Welcome to Equity's Directors' area

Equity is the trade union that represents stage directors.

It is the only recognised body that negotiates agreements with the major employers such as the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre. That means the strength of the union, backed by its growing membership of more than 41,000 professionals, is fighting for directors’ pay and working conditions. Fighting for you.

Equity represents individual directors who experience difficulties such as breach of contract claims. The union has intervened in numerous cases on behalf of members and been successful in ensuring that they have been paid the money due to them. Legal costs can be very expensive and being a member of Equity means that these are paid for you.

Equity’s theatre directors’ committeeEquity’s theatre directors’ committee, now almost in its 40th year, boasts some of the finest names in the industry as former members, such as Richard Eyre, former artistic director of the National Theatre and Michael Attenborough, the previous artistic director of the Almeida. The committee is consistently at the forefront of negotiating contracts for theatre directors. It has worked on behalf of directors in the major subsidised companies, subsidised and non-subsidised repertory companies, commercial theatre, the fringe, opera and drama schools, as well as the first Equity contract for directors in the West End and No. 1 touring theatre and with the ITC, small and medium scale theatre.

On August 1st 2016 an improved payment structure and clearer detail on the duties of Assistant Directors working in the West End was brought in under a new deal negotiated by Equity. This completes the protective agreements that the union has for assistant directors in commercial, subsidised and independent theatre. Director and Equity member Lisa Blair, pictured above, was instrumental in achieving the new agreement and there are more developments for Directors in the pipeline.

“I am really pleased that this new agreement for assistant directors was swiftly implemented by both SOLT and Equity. It will benefit all assistant directors working on Equity contracts in West End productions. It will help them negotiate their salary because of the clear pay minimums and also enable them to have greater confidence in their specific role within a production.” Lisa Blair, Director

Fighting for the artsEquity is a campaigning union with a long track record of taking the issues that matter to directors working in theatre, to parliament and other centres of influence. We continue to fight vigorous campaigns against arts cuts and we would really welcome your input and support.

“Equity is an important collective voice and champions the role of directors. The union fights for fair pay and working conditions and I believe that the more directors that join Equity, the greater influence we will have over the future of the industry. We’re stronger together. And together we can maintain the high quality of UK theatre.”Daniel Evans, Director